Shutdown ripple effect

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- The partial shutdown is hitting people in all kinds of ways.

In Rockville, Corey Brown had hoped to open his United Gun Shop this week. "We're ready to go, but we can't order inventory or open the doors until we have that license."

He is licensed to manufacturer ammunition. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, tell he's qualified to sell guns. But the license that would have allowed him to stock his shelves was supposed to go out just as the government shutdown. "The office that actually mails you your license?" "They print it out and mail it." "Is shutdown?" "Is non-operational."

At Long and Fostor Realtors in Chevy Chase, Marj Rosner says things are not quite as bad as she feared but some homebuyers are unable to get a shuttered IRS department to confirm their tax returns -- and that's jamming up their loans.

"You need to call the IRS and the IRS is closed. They're not answering. That's an issue now."

Still, Rosner says some furloughed workers are using their downtime to go house shopping. "There's a little bit of an uptick... People are buying houses."

Ironically, the shutdown may help some homebuyers. If the economy slows, mortgage lenders and bankers may be forced to lower interest rates to drum up business.

Thousands of laid off defense workers may have the time but not the inclination to go shopping. Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin still plans to lay off 2,400 because of the shutdown and there's no guarantee they will ever get their back pay.